San Francisco has a “Housing First” policy. The (very extended) Patel
family, which owns the vast majority of SRO hotel (Single Room
Occupancy: a.k.a. Poor People Housing) properties in the city, is
spitting in our faces by leaving SRO’s vacant for years. There is one
in the Mission (22nd and Mission, above the Ritmo music store, with 40

My Uncle Anthony has this expression that goes, “You might be my color but you ain’t my kind”. He is a street minister who says he’s workin’ for the lord. “The pay might be low but the benefits are out of this world” he says.

Who gets access to decent jobs and how are folks intentionally excluded from opportunity ? I am constantly asking myself these questions as I work in my capacity as employment counselor for a non-profit organization based in San Francisco. The organization prides itself on uplifting people from homelessness and ending joblessness. I have been working since the age of 16.